Prime Minister Tony Blair has admitted that biological and chemical weapons, which he once insisted Saddam Hussein had primed for use, may never be found.
In parliamentary testimony on Tuesday, the prime minister also insisted he had exerted real influence over Washington's approach to post-war Iraq and defended his close ties with President George W. Bush.
"We know Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction but we know we haven't found them," Blair said. "I have to accept we have not found them, that we may not find them."
Blair persuaded reluctant politicians to back war on Iraq last year on the basis that Baghdad had illegal weapons and could use them at any time.
A now notorious dossier, released in September 2002, said some of them could have been let loose within 45 minutes of an order to do so.
Yet more than a year after Saddam was toppled, no such weapons have been found. Blair's public trust ratings have withered over the same period.
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